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Superficial palmar arterial arch: anatomy, location and function

An arterial arch in the palm formed mainly by the ulnar artery. It supplies the palm and the fingers.

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Highlighted in the model: Superficial palmar arterial arch. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The model is an adult male.

Superficial palmar arterial arch at a glance

What it is
An arterial arch in the palm formed mainly by the ulnar artery.
Location
It lies beneath the palmar aponeurosis, is formed mainly by the ulnar artery and is often completed by the superficial palmar branch of the radial artery; it gives common palmar digital arteries. Its pattern varies a lot.
Function
It supplies the palm and the fingers.
Body system
Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA22837 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • It lies distal to the deep palmar arch.
  • Its convexity lies about level with the distal border of the fully extended thumb, a useful surface landmark in hand surgery.

Structures next to the superficial palmar arterial arch

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Superficial palmar arterial arch (FMA22837). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §20.1 Structure and Function of Blood Vessels. Rice University, 2022.
  3. Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.

Related anatomy

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.